Filing device



Sept. 26, 1950 H. WESTON 2,523,347

FILING DEVICE Original Filed Aug. 2, 1941 6MM @il if@ Patented Sept. 26, 1950 FILING DEVICE Herbert Weston, New York, N. Y.; vested in vthe Attorney General of the United States Original application August 2, 1941, Serial No. 405,130. Divided and this application August 17, 1944, Serial No. 549,880

2 Claims.

This invention relates generally to card indeXes or card registers of the kind in which the index cards or sheets have certain structural characteristics adapted to cooperate with portions of a container or holder for the cards to permit the positioning of the cards in relatively offset relation whereby portions of all such cards will be visible. More particularly, the invention relates to containers for the cards whereby such cards may be readily arranged and handled. Accounting and filing systems of this character are disclosed and claimed in United States patents to Bromiied No. 1,713,945, granted May 21, 1929; to Bosse, No. 1,975,566, granted October 2, 1934; and Bosse, 2,192,178, granted March 5, 1940.

It has been proposed to employ slotted or apertured cards cooperating with supporting or positioning ribs and the like whereby the cards may be offset either vertically or horizontally with respect to one another and in its simplest form', this arrangement involved slotting or perforating the cards or sheets along the lower edges thereof for horizontal offsetting as well as vertical offsetting. Furthermore, it has been proposed to cut away corner portions of the cards in graduated order to enable the exposed indicia on the successive cards to be more easily read.

Such cards have been contained within cabinets or drawers having inclined and adjustable back-rests to support banks of the cards, individual banks being separated by adjustable or readily movable partitions or dividers.

One object of the present invention is an iml proved cabinet adapted to contain a plurality ofv rows r groups of cards arranged in offset relation which is adapted to be made dust-proof and whereof the parts are so constructed and arranged that the greatest visibility is afforded the cards in the cabinet. In carrying this aspect of the invention into effect, the entire cover of the cabinet is, while hingedly mounted on the cabinet, capable of displacement so that the entire area of the cabinet is exposed to View while the front wall of the cabinet is displaceable outwardly to an inclined position to constitute a support for the foremost group or groups of index cards when the latter have been rocked forwardly to an out-of-the-way position to afford access to and expose the indicia on the particular card or cards being examined for the time being.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved surface on which the cards rest on the bottom of the cabinet or tray which will serve to position the cards and prevent them from slipping out of their rest positions when cards in front or in rear are removed.

The invention also seeks constructions which are practical from the standpoint of ease and practicability of manufacture and convenience and durability in use.

These and other objects of the invention and the means for their attainment will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating various embodiments by which the invention may be realized and in which:

Figure l. is a View in perspective showing a cabinet of this invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view showing the inclined back rest at the rear end of the cabinet;

Fig. 2A is a detail sectional View showing the relation of the inclined back rest and the card positioning rods.

, Figure 3 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale showing the manner of releasably securing the partitions in the bottom of the cabinet;

Figure v4 is a detailed View showing the relationship between the cabinet bottom, the card positioning bars, and the index cards.

Referring to Figures l through 4 for a, general understanding of the invention, one form of cabinet to which the invention is applicable is illustrated in Figure l ascomprised of side walls 29 provided on the inner sides thereof with ledges 22 and provided on its bottom surface with a numberof longitudinally'extending positioning bars V24 disposed in parallel relation and equally spaced across the bottom of the cabinet in parallel relationship vto the walls2. The front wall 25 of the cabinet is pivotally mounted cr hinged at a point above the bottom thereof so that it may be swung cutwardly at an angle, as viewed in Figure l. Side members 2S carried by the hinged wall 26 are adapted to limit outward rnc-vement of the wall 25 andserve, in the position shown in Figure l, as closures for the spaces at each side. A cover 39 for the cabinet isI adapted to rest thereon and is held against displacement by arms 32 which slide in slots 34 land are plvn otally connected at their lower ends at a point intermediate the front and back of the cabinet. The outer ends of the arms or links 32 are pivoted, as at 36, to the cover so that the cover may be pulled forward to rest down upon the walls and completely close the entire cabinet, when the wall 2S is in vertical position. At the rear of the cabinet, see alsoI Figure 2, is an inclined member or back rest 38 illustrated as of sheet metal having its upper end bent rearwardly to form a flange, as at 4U, in a substantially horizontal plane and its lower end the metal plate is bent rearwardly, as at 42 and then upwardly as at 44. The lower edge of the body part 3S is formed with a, plurality of notches 46 through which the positioning ribs or members 24 extend, the rear ends of said ribs being secured in position to the flanges or portions 42 and 44.

Sectional view 2A clearly illustrates the relationship of the cabinet 2G, cover 3B, corrugated cabinet bottom 64, card positioning bars 24, and back rest 38. The index cards El are omitted from this ligure, but are adequately illustrated in Figure `4. Y

The inclined back rest 38 extends upwardly from the card positioning ribs 24 at a rearward incline, the flange 45 tting over and resting upon the upper edge of the rear wall of the cabinet-as shown in Fig. 2, to space the rear- Vmost group lof cards 5l apart from the vertical inner face of the rear wall.

Hence, the rearmost group of cards will normally always tilt or rock rearwardly to lie against and be supported by, the back rest 35.

And, because of the fastening of the rear ends of the series of parallel positioning ribs 24 to the upper face of the rearwardly extending flange 42 at the lower advanced edge of the baci; rest, the extreme rear ends of the positioning ribs 42 being additionally secured to the vertical extension flange 44 of the back rest, such back rest cannot be forced out of its fixed rearwardly inclined position into a vertical position, even when the capacity of the card holding container or cabinet is -over-crowded, since the lower rearwardly and upwardly extended flanges 42, i4 are 'fast with said parallel card positioning ribs and the rear edge of the upper flange lili, overlying the upper edge of the rear wall of the cabinet braces the back rest against rearward movement. Also the attachment of the back resty 38 to the ribs 24 prevents displacement of the back rest relatively t'o the ribs, and the Contact of the upper rear flange 4% of the back 'rest against the upper edge vof the rear wall of the cabinet prevents rearward movement of the positioning ribs 24. The back rest is not adjustable relatively to the ribs.

Any number of partitions 48 may be provided for the cabinet depending upon the number of main subdivisions into which the indexing cards are divided. As shown, the partitions 4B are'preferably made of sheet material having outwardly extending ears 56 adapted to rest on and ei.- gage the ledges 22 when inclined Yeither rearwardly or forwardly so that the partitions will form inclined supports for the cards. To retain the partitions in adjusted position, they are each provided with a plurality of ears 52 depending from and spaced apart along their lower edges, as Yshown in Figure S, and in the illustrated embodiment, there are three such ears 52, which pass through slots 54 formed in the bottom 55 of the cabinet. The ears 52 extend suniciently downwardly below the bottom wall 55 of the cabinet to permit a cotter p-in or the like 58 t0 be passed therethrough to prevent removal of the partition while at the same time permitting it to be swung from the rearwardly inclined position illustrated in Figure l to a forwardly inclined position, as desired. As shown, the ears 52 are long enough so that the bottom edges 6B of the partitions 48 may rest upon the positioning bars 24.

To prevent the cards 6I from slipping forwardly as they might on the metal or other smooth surface, the bottom 56 of the cabinet is covered with a layer of corrugated material 64 (Figures 2A and 4). The bottom edge-of each card ti is notched as at 62 to receive the abovedescribed parallel positioning bars or rods 24.

Various modifications will occur to those skilled in the art in the composition, configuration and dis-position of the component elements going to make up the invention as a whole as well as the selection and combination of particular features to satisfy specific situations and no limitation is intended by the phraseology of the foregoing description or illustrations in the annexed drawings except as indicated in the appended claims.

This application is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 405,130, filed August 2, 1941 now Patent No. 2,374,965 dated May l,

What is claimed is:

1. In a card indexing mechanism, the combination with a rectangular cabinet having a bottom wall, vertical side rand, rear walls, a

vcover removably tting on the upper edges of the walls, and card positioning rods 4arranged in parallelism on the bottom wall and extending longitudinally from front ,toV Vrear of the cabinet to enable index cards notched along their bottom edges to be positioned in overlapping relation on, and retained where adjusted by, the parallel rods; of an inclined vback rest located within the cabinet adjacent the vertical rear wall; a flange extending rearwardly from the upper edge of the inclined back rest to overlie the edge of the rear wall and be lheld between said upper edge of the rear wall and the cover when said cover is in closed position; and a flange extending rearwardly and then upwardly from the lowenadvanced edge of the inclined back rest, the lower advanced edge of the b'. rest'oeing notched to accommodate the parallel card positioning rods, the rear ends of which rods extend through the appropriatek notches to overlie ,the lower vrearwardly extendflange, andr abut the upwardly extending nange, to prevent relative movement of the inclined back restand the positioning rods.

2. ln a card indexing mechanism, the combination withY a rectangular cabinet Vhaving a bottom wall, vertical side and rear walls, a cover removably tting on the upper edges ofv Vthe walls, and card .positioning rods arranged in parallelism on the bottom walland extending longitudinally from front to rear of the cabinet to enable index cards rnotched along their bottom edges to be positioned in overlapping relation on, and retained wherev adjusted by, the parallel rods; kof an incl-ined back rest located within the l y through the appropriate notches to 'overlie the lower rearwardly extending flange, 'and abut the upwardly extending flange, the rear ends `o'f the positioning rods being secured to the upwardly extending flange to prevent relative movement of the inclined back rest and the-positioning rods.

HERBERT WESTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Vick July 20, 1909 Weiss June 24, 1913 Sainberg Sept. 10, 1918 Bowman Sept. 2, 1919 Manny Dec. 23, 1919 Hiller Dec. 14, 1920 MeSheehy Apr. 26, 1921 Number Number 15 88,302 444,059 466,878

6 l Name Date Paulson Jan. 3, 1922 Hoffman May 9, 1922 Morse Sept. 18, `1928 Bellis Sept. 10, 1929 Barrett June 24, 1930 Ruck Apr. 4, 1939 Bosse Mar. 5, 1940 Walker Oct. 14, 1941 Bergmann Nov. 4, 1941 West Feb. 10, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Sweden 1937 Germany 1927 Germany 1929 

